I feel bad but I have to say good bye to this little guy. I am donating him monday to a public aquarium on Eastern Long Island, Atlantis Marine World.
I collected him over two years ago and he is a great fish. Unfortunately, he has grown to almost 5" from this picture when he was the size of a marble.
He is in a 12 or 15 gallon tank and I want to take down that tank for now.
The Aquarium has a large puffer display and he may go in there. I am sure he will be happier in a multi thousand gallon tank than where he is.
Their northern range is Chesepeke Bay and he must have drifted up on the Gulf Stream.

wow cute little guy!

He is going to be very happy in his new home^_^.

Did you say you caught him?

__________________
Tiffany

Yes I caught him along with a bunch of other tropicals that come up on the Gulf Stream to NY. He was the size of a marble, now he is 4 or 5". This is him now.

He looks awesome, Paul and Kuddo's for donating him for education. I am doing the same with some fish and amphibians.

That is outstanding. The only thing that i have ever caught and put in a tank was when I was a little girl and I caught poly-wogs and once a baby bullhead from a pond. I am in Wisconsin so the only thing tropical that I have any chance of catching here is.... well nothing really. lol I live near lake Michigan and caught a icky skin rash once from swimming in the lake but that was it.
:-)

__________________
Tiffany

Lake Michigan has some issues, were you swimming in milwaukee harbor when the sewage plant let loose? lol

Im from northeastern illinois, bout 45 minutes from the state line.

Eww no... lol I was in my teens and I am almost 40. But... My son always wants to go swimming in the lake and I tell hem not to go in past his knees cuz there are creepy crawlies in the lake that you don't want to get in any of your orifices. lol I might put my feet in on a REALLLLLLY hot day, but I am super grossed out by it. It is beautiful to see every morning on the way to work with the sun shining on it.

__________________
Tiffany

The Gulf Stream doesn't really flow much into Wisconsin so not much chance of tropical anything. Here in NY we get a lot of tropicals in the late summer. If we don't collect them they just die. I can get hundreds of pipefish but they live here all year as do seahorses.
We also get lookdowns and wrasses, trumpetfish and coronetfish, bigeyes and others.

Tiffany, do you go to the MAS swaps by chance then? They hold em at the NEW BERLIN BOWL.

I do miss my days of collecting in san diego waters. Its just too bad I dont have a salt tank to keep them in then or now, back then we used to eat em or toss em back after pictures.

He is gone. I brought him to the aquarium this morning. I can visit him for $25.00 like everyone else.
They don't know if they will display it or give it to another aquarium. They are afraid that burrfish are very prone to ich. (bunch of Sissies)

They are, but not from my tank. I have had him for over 2 years and my fish do not get ich. Well not in 30 years or so, Besides he has never been in a tank with other fish since I got him in the Atlantic.

All fish will get ich if they are not in perfect shape.

I took down that 15 gallon tank and transfered al the life to a 2 gallon tank. It is just about 25 local mud snails and some local grass shrimp. I just keep that tank for small interesting stuff I collect. The tank the burrfish was in was 63 degrees today but it is about 11 degrees outside. They are not totally tropical and don't mind a little cooler water. If it did not bother him in over 2 years I doubt it will bother him now. In the aquarium thay have him in a nice warm tropical tank. He will probably get ich from their fish and croak. Well at least I can say I tried.